The Northern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has generously offered to fund a program administered by the Northern California Chapter of the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) to promote the documentation of California’s cultural landscapes. The program offers stipends of up to $1000 to qualified persons — especially students and emerging professionals — to prepare HALS documents.

• Any qualified person (HALS Hero) can submit a proposal to document a site anywhere within the ASLA chapter’s geographic region. To apply, send us a HALS short form history for the site. An easy to use HALS Short Format History Template can be downloaded from the National Park Service website.
• If the site meets HALS criteria and is approved by the HALS chapter leadership, the HALS Hero will have 9 months to complete the documentation and submit it to the HALS chapter leadership.
• The HALS chapter leadership will review the documentation. If it is complete, they will award the stipend.
• If it is incomplete, they will review the submitted material and return for editing within an additional 3 months. Documentation must be completed within a total of 12 months.

• Materials must comply with the NPS HALS Guidelines.
• Documentation must consist of either measured drawings or large format photographs.
• A set of measured drawings should consist of one or more sheets of measured drawings — drawn by hand or with computer-aided design software — that comply with the HALS Drawing Guidelines. The drawing set should include the name and location of the site, a plan view drawing, plant list, features key, unique north arrow, location map, other sketches or sections needed to convey the character of the landscape, statement of significance, and acknowledgments. Field records are optional. For examples, see the drawings for the Bartram Garden and San Francisco National Cemetery.
• A set of large format photographs should consist of one to ten large-format photographs — taken with a view camera — that comply with the HALS Photography Guidelines. The set should include indexed captions, field records, and a sketch plan showing the locations and directions of the camera. The stipend for photographs is $100 per photo up for up to 10 photographs. Photographers are encouraged to use digital (non-view) cameras for the first draft, so that the essential views can be agreed upon before investing in large format photography. For further information, see HALS Photography Tips and HABS/HAER/HALS Photography FAQ. For examples, see the photographs for the Kaiser Roof Garden and Fleming Garden.
• Documentation should include an acknowledgement of the Northern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for funding the project.